A student living in Richmond has named the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and various other parties in a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit over a cycling accident in Naramata.
Brydon Cotter filed the lawsuit on April 6 against the RDOS, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Grizzly Excavating and Argo Road Maintenance in the Vancouver Law Courts.
In the lawsuit, he claims he was cycling through the intersection of Robinson Avenue and Partridge Road on Oct. 7 last year at about 4:30 p.m., when he hit a patch of loose gravel where a patch of pavement was missing.
“(The gravel) had been left on a bend in the roadway where pavement had been removed, causing the plaintiff to lose control of his bicycle and fall to the ground, sustaining substantial trauma to various parts of his body,” the lawsuit reads.
Those injuries, Cotter alleges, include “lacerations, abrasions and bruising to his face, left arm and left hand; injury to his left arm, injury to his left hand, permanent scarring to the face, left hand and left elbow” and headaches.
According to the lawsuit, there were not traffic signs or anything to mark the loose gravel hazard and missing pavement or anything blocking off that patch of roadway.
Cotter said he noticed chunks of pavement and other debris piled to the side of the roadway, likely indicating there was road work being done at the time.
Cotter alleges he has suffered “severe physical and emotional injuries and endured a painful period of rehabilitation” and has continued to experience pain and a loss of physical abilities. He claims he has lost income-earning capacity and expects that will continue.
He also said he paid unspecified medical bills for the incident, including rehabilitation.
The lawsuit claims negligence on the part of the defendants. It does not name a dollar figure sought in the claim, but as a Supreme Court filing, it must be above $35,000.
The defendants have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.